"He was taken to hospital and is receiving professional medical attention.

"We ask for understanding that we cannot give out continuous information about his health.

"He was wearing a helmet and was not alone. No one else was involved in the fall."

Michael Schumacher on the slopes in 2003 during a Ferrari press day Photo: REX FEATURES

The 44-year-old German was “suffering a serious brain trauma with coma on his arrival, which required an immediate neurosurgical operation”, the hospital in the southeast French city of Grenoble said in a statement.

“He remains in a critical condition.”

The motor racing legend had been skiing off-piste in the upmarket Meribel resort, where he reportedly has a luxury chalet, when he fell and hit his head, mountain police who gave him first aid said.

He was airlifted to a local hospital, then on to Grenoble, where a specialist neurosurgeon from Paris was rushed in to oversee his treatment.

Eyewitnesses said Schumacher was conscious but in an “agitated state” as he was treated by medics on the slopes.

Former French F1 driver Olivier Panis visited the hospital in Grenoble but was not able to see Schumacher.

“I know that his family has arrived. As I am here in Grenoble, I want to come to him and say hello, for old times’ sake. He is a great champion and someone very loved in Formula One.”

The director of the Meribel resort, Christophe Gernigon-Lecomte, had said just after the accident that Schumacher had been wearing a helmet and was “conscious but a little agitated” just after the accident, suggesting he had not received life-threatening injuries.

But his condition deteriorated and he fell into a coma, with doctors realising the damage was worse than initially feared.

The two mountain police officers who gave first aid said Schumacher was suffering “severe cranial trauma” when they got to him and a helicopter was brought in to evacuate him within 10 minutes.

A renowned Paris neurosurgeon, doctor Gerard Saillant, was brought to the Grenoble hospital in a police car to take charge of the famous patient.

Schumacher was on a private stay in Meribel, according to his spokeswoman. He is to have his 45th birthday next Friday.

Gernignon-Lecomte said the incident happened just after 11 am local time (10am GMT) while Schumacher was skiing off-piste in the mountains of Meribel resort between Georges Bauduis Piste and La Biche Piste, one of the most challenging ski areas in the region normally used by expert skiers.

“He was alone and he wore a helmet. He hit his head on a rock,” Gernignon-Lecomte said.

“He was rescued a few minutes later by two first aid workers. He was then transferred by helicopter to a nearby hospital.

“He was conscious but in shock when he arrived in the hospital. To be able to determine the exact causes of the accident, we have to wait for a police report.

“There is an open investigation going on. We insist on the fact that Michael Schumacher was skiing off-piste and his fall is not linked to an avalanche.”

Jamie Fox, head of communications for the British Ski Team who has skied with Schumacher said: “He absolutely adores skiing but he is incredibly competitive at anything he does.

“That was noticeable when we skied together, he was incredibly quick as you would expect from someone in F1.

“He was very technically sound and very together.”

Schumacher, who won the last of his world titles in 2004, definitively retired in 2012 in the Brazilian Grand Prix, in which he finished seventh, after an abandoned attempt to quit six years earlier.

Since his debut in 1991, the German towered over the sport, winning more Formula One world titles and races than any other. He had a record 91 wins and is one of only two men to reach 300 grands prix.

Schumacher’s duels in his heyday with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, fired by an unquenchable competitive spirit, have gone down in Formula One lore.

Schumacher was born in January 1969 near Cologne, Germany, the son of a bricklayer who also ran the local go-kart track, where his mother worked in the canteen.

By 1987, Schumacher was the German and European go-kart champion and was soon racing professionally. In 1991 he burst into Formula One by qualifying seventh in his debut race in Belgium and a year later he was racing for Benetton, where he won his first Formula One grand prix in 1992.

After joining Ferrari in 1996, Schumacher achieved infamy by trying to ram Villeneuve off the road at Jerez in the last race of 1997, and was disqualified from the championship as punishment.

Over the next decade, he went from strength to strength, dominating the podium, before trying to retire the first time aged 37.

But the father of three could not resist the lure of the track and in 2010 he signed a three-year deal with Mercedes.

But slower reflexes and a less competitive car meant Schumacher could not reproduce his former glory and he quit for good in 2012. His helmet had a message for fans: “Life is about passions - Thank you for sharing mine.”